


Feed the Stray

by soprana



Series: Stray Series [4]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Here there be puns, Vampires, and stereotypes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 04:07:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17676170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soprana/pseuds/soprana
Summary: “Yeah.” He clarified sheepishly, coming back under control enough to fix her with his stare. “Easy to get to and has less…implications than the neck does.” He squirmed once again. “Another if someone is really desperate is the butt, but there is no way in Hell I would bite someone’s ass.”





	Feed the Stray

Watching vampire movies with friends was easy.

Watching vampire movies with a vampire was not as easy.

Natsu said he’d be okay with it but she made him pick it out just to be safe. He nearly had a shit fit when she put on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and she was quite tempted to put on a Twilight marathon to see his reaction.

Before Halloween and the drunken night of grinding with a vampire, if anyone told her she would invite the very vampire she tried to avoid into her house, she would have laughed them down the street with a few Lucy-kicks.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

After Halloween, Lucy realized the growing closeness with Natsu: The attraction. The growing closeness that she associated with him trying to wager a meal grew to be closeness of interest. Never-mind that she remembered the party and the incident when he walked her home, the moment he could have lunged and finally tasted her, but pulled himself back.

Natsu could have easily fed and left when she was incapable of fighting. Yet, he declined and reminded her that he wanted her trust, not her blood.

Well, he did lust after her blood but he always promised that he wouldn’t unless she gave permission.

Anyway, refusal to invite him in became moot, since apparently once you invite a vampire in, it is an offer that stays on the table. Still, he pretended until she actually did so of sound mind. He was a predator but a fair one at least.

Lucy trusted him, after how many months of him teasing her at her window, or him walking her home, or of him bringing things like vitamins before she even felt sick. The sampling never really stopped, his deep inhales of her distracting as he watched her with rapt attention when she spoke.

Now that he was allowed in her house, however, it became a new sort of hell.

He was quieter than a deer prodding through a forest, what with his predatory background. The silent steps he used to stalk his food was now used for her own misfortune. Sneaking up on her and scaring her had proved to be a delightful game of his despite her constant squirt bottle of holy water.

He was a fashion critic, much to her horror, his sharp eyes skilled in picking out weak humans to feed on and nit-picking her choice of interior design with almost as much negativity as Gordon Ramsey with a terrible chef.

Not to mention the light bulbs that disappeared from her lamps or the sudden lack of batteries in the remotes. The miraculous migration of her silverware from one drawer to another was not a surprise she was ready for when inviting a vampire home. The cardboard John Cena nestled in her bathroom to look like an intruder was the least humorous of Natsu’s pranks. She nearly took the cardboard figure’s head off with her curling iron.

Natsu was a devil, a blood sucking devil, and he was proud of the perks.

He was chaos, utter and complete tomfoolery to the idiot who gave him permission to enter the house: oh wait, that was her.

She had a pest problem that no exterminator in the phone book could handle.

How the hell they ended up in this cycle of flirting, Lucy had no idea. He brought her gifts and groceries sometimes, though not in a sweet way to expect from a 400 year old.

One gift was a rock that, looked like a toad, that lived in her garden.

To think she expected some Shakespeare romance from him, how laughable.

400 years old and he would pout, play, act innocent when her stove caught fire, mismatch her socks, bring her food when she was sick, laugh at her bad jokes, play with her hair when she was sad—oh God she can’t fall in love with him.

It was wrong to fall in love with the stray vampire she had somehow attracted to her window. Right? 

Right.

Brown eyes looked up from her spot next to him, watching him as he laughed at the movie, the fangs less threatening than the early months of their acquaintance. Those bright onyx eyes watched the screen, snickering every time something false about his species happened in the movie.

The Little Vampire, of all the movies he could have decided on, he picked a movie about a boy and a coven of vampires…and something about vampire cows? She wasn’t paying attention anymore, more interested in her popcorn and the woodsy smell that clung to him like a cologne. 

He had mentioned something about her being immune to his Mind Compulsion and his ‘vampire pheromones’, something that made him smell like anyone desired by a future prey. Like, if she had someone she was attracted to, Natsu would smell like that person. Only, he always smelled like Natsu and she really didn’t know how to handle that.

Or the fact that he tried to control her mind once and found out she was immune. He got a handful of garlic powder to the face when he confessed about that, and Lucy thought he would have died that night if she didn’t have that squirt bottle to clean his face off.

The garlic powder was then put in the far back of the spice cabinet, hidden beyond the almost new bottle of vanilla extract and cumin to never be seen again.

Her stomach protested with a rumble as more buttery goodness was shoveled into her mouth and Lucy ignored it in favor of watching the smile grow on Natsu’s face as the movie progressed, tracing the contours of his jaw with her eyes.

He was a good vampire once she got over the fact that he had fangs and was hungry for her. He was an even better guy, despite the time he brought a toad into her house as a 'pet’.

Her belly felt so painfully full of junk, but yet she still heard the groan of hunger without feeling the pangs. Then Natsu shifted awkwardly, and her focus zeroed in on the pale complexion of his face, the guilty shame present in his eyes. The movie no longer captured his attention, his head turning towards the door longingly.

“Natsu? Are you okay?” She asked softly, swallowing when his sharp eyes fell to her with a tender look. Age and wisdom was something he never really displayed unless there was something serious on his mind, but now he looked like that 400 year old man with many regrets in his life.

“Y-Yeah Lucy. I’m…I’m just hungry.” He answered, not looking her in the eyes as he confessed. He swallowed, that habitual breathing he normally did, frozen in time as to not catch her scent so strongly next to him.

He promised to protect her from himself and Lucy never once caught him breaking that promise.

“Oh.” She breathed, watching the hint of ravenous thirst start to etch across his features, his body now shifting on the couch. Natsu was a naturally antsy person. But, when he was hungry, he almost never stopped twitching or pacing.

“I might have to leave now.” He reasoned as he grabbed the remote, pausing the DVR and keeping his gaze away from her. “I won’t be back tonight, but I’d really like it if we can finish this movie together. Tomorrow, maybe?” Words began to rush out of his lips, almost like verbal vomit in his haste to excuse himself before he really took on a scary image.

He finally got her to trust him and he’d do anything to keep that trust.

Body tensing to stand up, Lucy mulled over his words for a second before suddenly maneuvering her legs over his lap, trapping him under her warm legs. He was warmer, almost burning contrary to the tales of ice and chills.

Natsu, being undead, was more alive than any human she had met. She saw it too when he froze with wide eyes at his failed escape, the mental cogs churning as he tried to figure out just why she acted like that. His hands hovered over her thighs, not daring to touch the lively flesh as he swallowed but dare not breathe.

“Lucy-” his hoarse voice croaked, “-I really have to go.”

“No, you don’t.” Was her answer, startling him enough to look at her like she had lost her mind.

He squirmed again, much like he would if he had to pee, but the obvious grumble of his stomach was a reminder to why he was so anxious to flee. “Luuucyyyyy, I can’t do this right now. I promise I’ll-”

Without really thinking it over, probably because she had been thinking it over almost every time he came over nowadays, Lucy scooted over to sit on his lap without paying attention to the provocative position. Natsu’s hands moved to hover over her waist as his eyes bugged out of his skull but his lips were fast in wording, “Whaaaat is happening heeeere?”

She fixed him with one of those stares that intimidated and got her what she wanted most of the time, shaking her head of golden hair and placing a forbidding hand over his still heart. “No. Stay.”

That burning gaze was sharp on her face, searching for answers to questions he wasn’t asking. Another thick swallow from him, and his moistened his lips in search of the proper words to say without treading over some forbidden line.

It was kinda obvious with her perched in his lap but she let him mull it over.

“Lucy…I can’t keep my promise like this.” He warned weakly, hands finally descending on her waist to firmly lift her off his lap.

One look at her face and he stopped, staring curiously as she bit her lip. “Unless-” he squeaked with a very unmanly tone.

Lucy inhaled slowly, coaching herself to word her next sentence simply, watching him carefully. “I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay. Please?”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but the low rumble from his stomach spoke up for him. The stern gaze that he took on made her stomach coil, but not with fear.

She trusted him to protect her like he promised. There was nothing to fear from the man that had the sharpest pair of canines she had ever seen and hungered for her blood. He would stop if she asked. He would leave without a fuss if she asked.

Lucy felt how still he was, the rumble of his hunger like rolling thunder in the distance: something to be worried about if it got closer. Rigid under her, Natsu held still with those wide and alert eyes picking her apart piece by piece, deciding if she really wanted him to stay and if she knew the consequences that could follow.

“You’re hungry, right?” She asked softly, barely heard as it passed through her lips, but the sharpening gaze of the man under her told her that he heard perfectly.

His lips pursed, a hint of emerald filtering into the edges of his irises. Not looking away like he does when he is about to lie, he nodded with absolute minimal movement.

Typical vampire, so painfully still when she wanted some acknowledgment out of him.

Taking in yet another steady breath, her free hand traveled up to pull away her curtain of hair to reveal the tender skin of her neck to him. With a tilt of her head, she was bare to him, brown eyes watching his reaction carefully. “Just this once, okay?”

It didn’t go as she planned.

Natsu looked horrified, plainly put, as he leaned away from her as far as he could go. His eyes flashed from her exposed neck to her eyes with almost a hint of betrayal, forgetting the fact that he was holding her in his lap.

“L-Lucy…W-Wha…uh…whyareyoushowingmeyourneck?” He squawked, missing the bubble of drool beginning to form at the corner of his mouth.

He looked like she just declared that she wanted to drop her rent agreement and move. Lucy would have laughed if she had not just dropped every rule she had standing between this friendship with a vampire. It was a big step, a big moment of trust, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t offended by his sudden rejection.

“What kind of friend would I be if I let you go hungry?” She reasoned with a no-nonsense tone, keeping her neck exposed. “Just…be gentle, okay?” 

This probably was a bad idea, she really should have thought this through. But, she knew how hunger felt and the thought of him chasing down some poor soul soured her mood.

Until one of Natsu’s hands moved from her waist to cover his mouth and nose, his head turning to look away as he muffled through his palm, “O-Okay, I gathered that but not from y-your n-neck. P-Put it away!” He squeaked like her throat was a nasty bug, clenching his eyes shut.

If he wasn’t a vampire, Lucy imagined his face would have been alight with flushed skin. He was…embarrassed…about her neck?

“What’s wrong with my neck?” She snapped, slightly offended. She had a beautiful neck, as far as necks went. What was his problem?

Natsu looked flustered for the first time since she met him, absolutely like a school boy conflicted with adulthood desires. Absolutely cute, Lucy thought to herself.

“The neck is more of a…erm… more i-intimate p-place to feed.” He said, never meeting her eyes. “Only vampires that are…trying to…s-seduce their…um…food, do that.” He squirmed then, once again a puppy that needed to pee.

Vampires…that seduce…their food? Oh.

Lucy felt the burn of her face at the image of Natsu purring and nibbling at her neck sensually, a fanged grin sending pulses of need down her spine.

Seduce their food. She forgot that was a thing.

“W-Where-” She swallowed thickly, regaining her bearings for the task at hand, “-do you normally feed?”

At that, Natsu’s eyes flashed to her before trailing down her body and all the way to the crook of her elbow.

Soft, tender skin fresh with blood under the surface.

“My…arm?” She asked softly, curiously turning her arm to look for herself.

“Yeah.” He clarified sheepishly, coming back under control enough to fix her with his stare. “Easy to get to and has less…implications than the neck does.” He squirmed once again. “Another if someone is really desperate is the butt, but there is no way in Hell I would bite someone’s ass.”

Then he smirked at her weakly, the flirty tone barely there in his humiliation. “Unless it’s your ass I get to bite.”

Lucy smacked at his chest and huffed when he chuckled. “How is the ass less intimate than the neck?! Ugh, no ass bites!”

The man grinned cheekily, eyes alight with mirth at the expense of her own mortification this time. Still, the fact that she was actually giving him permission to feed on her was startling and his own thirst spiked with a warm burn at the wish to have his mouth near her pulse. The beautiful blonde that he’d been pining over for the longest time in his lap and letting him taste her: shivering and moaning as his lips and tongue roved her tender neck and tasted what he had been desiring since the first night he scented her.

He had cravings, but they paled to her happiness and well being. Lucy was far more important than his eternal thirst.

“Are you sure?” he clarified seriously, watching for any hint of a lie.

“I am.” She replied with no flinch.

She was serious about this. So he would be.

Without a word, he lifted her off his lap and placed her on her original cushion, ignoring her startled reprimands in favor of standing and walking to the kitchen.

A few moment passed and Lucy blinked when he appeared with a small glass of apple juice, some oyster crackers, and a paper towel. Of all the situations where a vampire was going to feed on her blood, apple juice and crackers never fit into the mental scenario.

Without a word of explanation, he set the items down on her coffee table before turning to face her with a concerned face. “Lucy, I need you to promise that you’ll stop me the second you feel uncomfortable or you want me to stop.” There was no room for argument in his tone, the weight of the words so unlike the lovable and dorky vampire she knew.

Of course, this was his way of making sure he kept her trust. Lucy could appreciate that.

“Aye sir.”

He squinted at her before settling back on the couch, quickly lifting her back into his lap with a sultry grin. “I liked you there. A nice view for me, yeah?” He teased her confused expression with a growl, dodging her swipe at his head with a snort. He caught the second swipe with ease, gently holding her wrist and pressing his lips to it.

It was like she touched an electric fence without feeling the pain. Contrary to the harsh words that he spit and the foul and crude jokes he made, his lips were so soft.

She really wanted them on her lips for some reason, like a burning want that she never felt with anyone. Maybe the mind compulsion didn’t work on her, but his natural charm did wonders. His eyes were focused on hers as he dragged his mouth along the underside of her arm, sending shivers through her and drowning out any thoughts besides the need to try her luck.

Lucky Lucy, not so lucky when she wanted to be.

But, all care went out the window when she pulled her arm away before he reached the crook, taking in his startled pause and the shock in his face at overstepping a boundary so soon.

Leaning closer, she watched him with hooded eyes and numb thoughts, reflecting how everything changed between them. He was dangerous, with eyes of green and a smile of ravenous hunger as he watched her from outside her window and tried to lure her out.

He wanted to taste her, he never lied about it, but being her friend was more important to him.

Natsu licked his lips eagerly, waiting silently as she made her choice. The choice that would keep things simple or dredge her deeper in with him.

She always dug deep, anyways.

Closing her eyes, Lucy ended the distance and pressed her lips to his, tasting the warmth and Wrigley’s Big Red on his breath.

Did vampires even chew gum?

The thought fluttered away when he hummed and began moving his lips against hers, sucking at her bottom lip. Warm, rough hands cupped her cheeks, and his eyes closed as well. For a 400 year old man hunter, he was so warm and soft. A damn good kisser too.

Before it ignited a burn she wasn’t ready to take on, Lucy pulled away with a 'pop’ of their lips, smiling at the dazed expression of the man before her. Onyx eyes unfocused, not a trace of blood-thirst, full of wonder and awe.

Leaning further away with a smile, Lucy then offered her arm again with less hesitation. “I just didn’t want some dude biting my arm when I haven’t even gotten to first base with him yet, you know?” She reasoned cheekily, as light as she could manage given the situation.

Her blush gave her away, however, and Natsu licked his lips again as he imprinted everything to memory: her taste, the feel of her lips, the rushing of her heart as she kissed him sweetly. Never will he wish to forget that moment with her, so long as he eternally lived. Never will her swollen lips or her shimmering eyes ever fade from his memories.

“Right.” He croaked, swallowing thickly at how hoarse his voice had become. What a startling effect for a human to have on a vampire. The ability to make him feel like he had a beating heart, a racing heart filled with warmth and content when she was with him.

Was this love? This strange feeling that surpassed the high he got when feeding. Erza told him about it, but he never payed attention. That was 200 years ago when he was still young and more reckless. Love was patient and kind, but love died like everything else around him.

Everyone mortal died around him.

That bitter thought cooled the burn of his joy, the urgency of his thirst coming back like before. The scent of her around him, warm against his skin, the live heart just inches away all sunk in and tried to drag him down into frenzy.

The blood he’d been desiring for months now, his to take. All his. His feast. His prey.

The agonizing pinch of skin on his thigh brought him back to the surface with a refreshing burst of clarity.

This wasn’t prey. This was Lucy. Lucy was precious. She wasn’t a feast.

Lucy was a friend, not food for a monster.

Jaw grit, Natsu closed his eyes, drawing clarity by repeating those thoughts as he pressed a gentle kiss to the crook of her elbow, marveling at the steady and strong pulse there. Strong…like Lucy.

“Stop me the moment you feel uncomfortable.” He reminded sternly, inhaling that familiar scent of her perfume, her shampoo, and that hint of Lucy. He dared not open his eyes and reveal the glowing orbs of green that was bound to scare her, unwilling to stomach the same look of fear on her like all his other…the other humans.

He’d never be able to face her or bare what he was if that happened.

She was relaxed, no tension in her limb as his lips parted and his fangs gently brushed along tender skin.

Her trust in him still stunned him sometimes.

“Thank you.” He whispered, feeling the slight flutter of her pulse, before he pressed his fangs into her, piercing that ivory skin.

He felt her muscles tense at the intrusion, the sharp intake of air in her nose telling him she had not expected the sensation.

The numb sensation of a bite but feeling the invasion of teeth.

Warmth. He felt warmth and tasted sweet copper. The drug his kind had to have, craved like animals sometimes. Lucy’s blood; something he desired and finally tasted. It was powerful, strong like her, tasting almost as good as her lips.

He moaned at the satisfaction, the filling feeling as he fed consuming his thoughts, careful not to bruise her. It kept oozing out with every pump of her heart, keeping him satisfied enough to enjoy and savor. This gift can’t be wasted, not a drop. Her breathing soon became measured, the tint of exhaustion starting to creep into her flavor.

She was fighting to hold out. How long had he drank from her?

Pulling away was so much harder than he could remember, licking away stray droplets that escaped and grabbing the paper towel blindly. His hunger was gone, detained behind reason.

It was safe to open his eyes.

Pressing it to her skin, he glanced up to her face and noticed the pale color and her struggle to stay upright in his lap.

He overdid it, he thought with a hissed curse, moving to slip her off his lap and lay her against the back of the couch. Guiding her to hold the towel over her wound, he grabbed the apple juice and crackers, fingers trembling in his haste.

“Lucy, hey, I need you to sip this. Okay?” He coaxed softly, watching her slowly blink and turn her gaze to him, parting her lips to accept his offering.

Natsu nearly spilled it as he tipped the juice into her mouth, sighing as color began to return to her and life began to show in her eyes.

“T-That was…well…y-you obviously took a pint extra-” She breathed, accepting the crackers from his other hand. The poor humor was lost to him, attention now diverted to applying pressure to the towel as she ate.

It would be some time before the wounds swelled closed and became like sites from a blood donation. At least, Natsu knew that was the case for arm bites. Neck bites looked like hickeys.

The apple juice drained down her throat, her breath gasping like she walked the Sahara Desert and finally had a drink. Her hands shook, her body fighting to start replacing the lost blood, and all bright eyed awareness was lost to tired yawns.

Blood equaled energy and Natsu just siphoned about two or three pints of it. She was definitely not moving off this couch without assistance.

“I’m sorry. I lost track of time.” He breathed, guilty and not excusing his actions in the least. “I…I took too much from you.” Lucy looked so close to passing out, but she hummed and shifted to lean against his shoulder.

“S’ fine. I gave you per'ission.” Her words slurred, eyes fluttering as she snuggled into his warmth. “-’re not hungry anymore, right? Th'ts all that matters.” She yawned again, prompting him with as much lazy gestures as she could manage to put his arm around her.

It was a lie to say he wasn’t hungry anymore. As a vampire, he was always thirsty. Controlling the thirst, however, was manageable thanks to her. He could go a couple weeks without the burn of hunger, but it still waiting in the shadows.

Still, he let a rumble vibrate through his chest, turning to let her head rest over his still heart as he threaded fingers through her hair. “Yeah. Thanks for the meal, Lucy. I’ll be full for a while.” He never noticed how frail her body was compared to his, so fleshy and mortal. Her heart was so breakable, her feelings gentle and brittle in her tender moments.

He’d lie so that heart didn’t break at the fact she could never satisfy the eternal thirst. Being a vampire was a curse, after all. Cursed with never-ending hunger, doom to roam the Earth through the ages, and to never die unless staked or beheaded.

Lucy was far to innocent to know that, and he let her keep the false idea that the modern world had: Vampire Hipsters or something like that. She’ll never feel the undying hunger, the drive to hunt and feed on people that used to be her kin. She will never understand how much he wanted her.

A tiny snore filtered through her nasal cavity and Natsu had to snort in amusement. Lucy was a precious person. He couldn’t deny that any longer. Even if she was mortal, she crawled into his dead heart and made him feel like he was human again.

As if he could let her go even if he wanted to.

Onyx eyes stared down at the sleeping woman, his fingers brushing through her hair thoughtfully. Lucy was someone he wanted to protect and keep if she let him.

Resting his forehead on her own cranium, he breathed in her scent and closed his eyes, whispering to her without waking her.

“I promise to stay and protect your future. As long as you live, as long as you’ll have me, I will keep my promise.”

Lucy snored in response and the man smiled, knowing he had at least until dawn before he had to move her to her bed.


End file.
